What a day...Creating and Winning a Stylish Blog Award

Not having school tomorrow has allowed me time to sit create and enjoy my computer and a little bit of Blogging. When I was checking my comments I had received such a sweet gesture from Mrs. Saylor's Log, the Stylish Blog Award:

Here are the rules for receiving this award:
1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Award 5 recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

So here I go....

1. Thank you so much my new blogging friend Kim Saylor of Saylor's Log

2. Now the 7 things about myself:

• I am a first year teacher.
• I am a first year wife and have married my best friend
• I love my job...seeing the light bulb come on in their little brains makes my day.
• Running is the best stress reliever. Can't wait for the Disneyland Half Marathon
• Goldfish are my favorite snack
• J.Crew is the best place for teaching clothes because J.Crew Loves Teachers and gives us a discount.
• Last, I love spending time with my friends and traveling to the coast with my Husband (that was really two in one). 

3. These are Five of my favorite Blogs:

• Lindsey at The Teacher Wife
• Leslie at Life in First Grade
• Sarah at First Grader at Last
• What the Teacher Wants
• Abby at Inspired Apple

Again Thanks for the award my new Blogging friend Kim Saylor!

If you give...Mrs. Wiele a....

So this week we are reading the story "If you Give a Pig a Pancake". Of course we will be eating some pancakes with maple syrup! I can't wait. As an extension activity my amazing mentor teacher mention that we should have them write about if they gave us something what would happen. So here is the template I made. This could be used with any of the If you Give stories...Pictures of our Statue of Liberty drawings and the pancake party will be up soon.

Click on the image to download!

Valentines Day Compound Word Activity

I have created a center activity for that very special day coming up....that's right...Valentines Day!! I find it funny that my husband and I don't celebrate this day but I will be doing all things Valentines in my classroom. I hope that you enjoy this center with your students!!!

Groundhogs day and a little bit of Shadow tag!!!

All day my kids kept reminding me that today was groundhogs day and that I promised we would get to go out and wake the groundhog...so we did by playing a little bit of shadow tag after completing our groundhog graphing activities. The best part about the graphing activities was my kids had no clue we were doing math. When I said, "well that was math for today!" They all replied..."You tricked us...how was that math?" Oh it was great they were all learning and really into collecting their data that they forgot they were doing math. I still haven't told you the best part of our groundhog activities...I love running so anytime we have PE time I play with them! Well, they all wanted to catch my shadow so I was running away and ran straight into a mud puddle...barefoot! They thought it was great! Oh what a wonderful day in First grade.

Today we also talked about if we preferred cold weather or warm...well we are Californians so I am sure you can make a good prediction on which my students preferred....

We are off the charts Warm Weather kind of people. You can't tell in this photo but each student wrote their name in the hat so that friends could read the graph and see you likes what....They were really into it. Along with graph I am having the students write a personal narrative about their favorite weather. When out writing process is complete I will share that with you. Stayed tuned for more groundhog activities!

Meet The Teacher

So...a little about me. I am a brand new teacher just out of school. When I tell my parents I am only 23 their mouths drop! I recently married my Best Friend this past July in the most amazing place....Santa Cruz (it is where we met).

Just to let you know how crazy my life has been this year..I am going to give you a little breakdown:

        June 2010: Graduated with a Masters in Digital Teaching and Learning from Azusa Pacific University...Go Cougars!

July 2010: Get married in Santa Cruz

Go to Costa Rice

While on my Honeymoon get a call about an interview

One Week of being back from our honeymoon I get the job and must move away from my husband for a month

August 2010: Start my first teaching job in my home town

September 2010: Husband finally moves to be with me

Our home is in the process of being remodled

November: Finally move into our home but we have no kitchen :(

February: My life is finally normal and my house is FINISHED!!!

Q: What would you be doing if you weren't teaching?A: I am not sure...since I could remember, I have always wanted to be a teacher. If not teaching then still working with students but probably in a camp setting. 

Q: What are your hobbies?

A: I really enjoy decorating and because I just moved into my new home, my current hobby is decorating my house!

Q:When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A: I have always wanted to be a teacher but for a little while I was obsessed with the weather so I thought I wanted to be a meteorologist.     

Q:What are your guilty pleasures?

A: I love goldfish...I have them hidden in my classroom! I also have to have a Sugar-Free Vanilla Latte almost everyday (it doesn't help that my husband manages a starbucks). I also love to shop...I think I look at J.Crew.com almost 4 times a week, even though I know it doesn't change that much.

Q: When your on Vacation, where do you like to go?

A: SANTA CRUZ....it holds a special place in my heart and I could never get enough Peet's Coffee with Erik's Deli!!!

Q: What is the best advice you ever recieved?

A: To always do my best and to never let anyone tell me that I won't be able to achieve my goals in life.

Q:What do you value most in others?

A: I appreciate when people are real (honest). I like to get to know people for who they are, not what someone else has told them they are or should be. I believe knowing who you are and sharing that with others despite difference is important and is what makes this world interesting!

Q: If you could have lunch with anyone in the world living or dead....who would it be?

A: I would want to have lunch with my grandma so that I could share with her all that has happened in my life. Also Jesus....He is a pretty awesome guy!
Now it's your turn...Let me know a little bit about you and leave a comment. To Link with other teachers visit The First Grade Parade
         

A little Sight Word Help

I am having some little kiddos, who seem to just not remember all of their sight words. So with the help of my amazing mentor teacher we have created a new tool to help them. Each day we will choose 10 words to focus on. Each day the students will write the word and then use it in a complete sentence. So here is the cover and the inside cover, which, is a list of their first 100 sight words! We will be stapling half sheets of newsprint for them to write on. Once they have completed this book they will begin the next! When I have that cover and word list ready...I will be posting! For now enjoy the first 100 Sight Words!

That is my Toad

Our story this week is, "That is my Toad!" My students are loving the sight word pocket chart activities and I am seeing great improvement in their reading. Here is this weeks activity....I have also included Long O words spelled "oa" and "ow"! All you do is laminate and cut out the pieces and hide a toad behind the log. Students must say the word correctly before they may look behind the logs for the toad. The student who finds the toad is the winner. I have provided you with 6 toads but I only use one to make the game a little tricky.  I hope you enjoy!